Melting the Iron Gates
by Doc Lee
Summary: Just an idea that stuck in my head involving a way of Thawing the relationship between Gates and Beckett, plus some other stuff. One shot. As it has been written on my IPad, it's completely un-beta'd, so there may be some errors.


Righty then, this is just a little one shot idea that burrowed itself into my head after reading a fanfic on here (but for the life of me I cannot remember who it was that wrote it, so if it reminds you of something you've written, then it might just be you that inspired me, so thanks) and never left.

Disclaimer - I don't own Castle, I'm just messing about with their characters a bit.

Stepping out of her office, Captain Victoria 'Iron' Gates surveyed the bustling room. Her meeting over and with a few minutes spare, Gates took in the scene before her. It's days like today that she could see just how influential Roy Montgomery had been and how much of a loss his death was, not just to the men and women of the 12th precinct, but to the NYPD as a whole. A niggle at the back of her mind alerted her to the lack of noise she had irritatingly gotten used to.

'Detective Esposito?' Gates turned to the Hispanic detective, his head buried in a folder, 'I understand that Mr Castle is off doing his real job today, but where is Detective Beckett?' Gates motioned to the empty desk as she spoke.

'She's in the break room sir,' Detective Ryan replied for Esposito, after his partner had shrugged in confusion, 'with Taylor from the sketch pool.'

'I thought you knew who the assailant was in the last case?' Gates turned her patented glare on the two men, the implication of being kept out of the loop irritating her.

'We do Sir, Ryan nodded, 'Beckett didn't say why she needed Taylor, but she told me to get the first available sketch artist up here pronto, so I did.'

Gates turned to the break room door, as it opened to reveal Taylor leaving with his gear stashed under his arm. Her detective mind whirring, Gates told the two men to get back to work with another of her glares before stalking across the open space and into the small space shifted off to me corner of the floor plan.

Whatever Gates expected to find in the small room, the sight of her lead detective hunched over a hand drawn image sniffing suspiciously was not it.

'Detective Beckett?'

Surprised by the voice, Beckett jumped visibly, her hand swiping across her face in a blink as her other hand grabbed the sheet of paper from the table before her.

'Sorry Sir,' Gates noticed the hitch in her voice as she started to carefully slide the sheet of paper into a folder from the seat next to her, 'I'll get back to my paperwork.'

Throughout her career, Victoria Gates had gained a persona of, well, being a hard nosed unfeeling bitch and her stint in IA hadn't lessened that in any form. Generally she was okay with people believing this, as it enabled her to get on with the job she loved, but it had meant that she had very few true friends in the force. Standing in the break room doorway, Gates found her motherly instincts going into overdrive

'Sit down Katherine,' Gates bit back a chuckle at the surprised look on Beckett's face, 'and tell me why my head detective is quietly weeping over a sketch in my break room.'

'It's nothing Sir,' Beckett's face morphed into a utterly unconvincing smile and Gates flicked an eyebrow up as her stance sent Beckett back to her childhood as she remembered her mother sending her the same look numerous times before she'd been so cruelly taken from her.

'It's stupid,' Beckett relented after a few stuttered attempts at talking,'but I had a very vivid dream last night and I cannot get it out of my head.'

'Nightmare?' Gates found herself slipping further into 'mother mode' as she looked at the pained expression on Beckett's face. Closing the breakroom door, Gates sat down beside Kate on the uncomfortable sofa, 'I was under the impression that you had ceased attending your appointments months ago? Are you still suffering PTSD incidents?'

'No Sir,' Beckett instantly answered with a firm shake of her head, 'I've not had an episode or nightmare in months. The dream was...' To Kate's dismay, she found her throat tightening once more, '... Quite the opposite.'

'Tell me about it,' Gates carefully requested, 'please.'

'I was laying on a lounger by a private pool,' Kate shifted her gaze to the floor and Gates watched the younger woman disappear into the dream, 'under a brightly coloured parasol. Beside me I had a newborn child, a little girl, squirming around and giggling as I played with her belly. She...' Beckett let a tear fall as she described the dream, '... She was beautiful.'

'And then you woke up?' Gates winced as Kate's face crumpled for an instance, the younger woman taking a deep ragged breath to hold back her tumbling emotions.

'I actually turned in my bed to where I would have put a crib next to it,' Kate swiped at the increasing number of tears falling down her face, silently praising her decision that morning to wear waterproof mascara, ' and of course, she wasn't there.'

'I remember when I had the first one of those,' Gates handed Kate the box of tissues from the coffee table, 'I spent an hour sobbing in my Husbands arms when I woke up and realised it was a dream.'

'She was gorgeous,' Kate's tear stained face broke into a stunning smile, 'she had her father's eyes, eyes that I swore in the dream were looking right into my soul, but she had my mother's nose and her sister's red hair,' Kate's voice broke, 'and her smile, My God, her smile to me was breathtaking.'

Gates watched Kate fight to keep from outright crying in front of her boss, 'and then to wake up and realise it was just a dream...' Kate let out a quick sob, the sound echoing in the room meant that Gates couldn't help but reach out and gently put her hand on Kate's arm, her thumb instinctively rubbing circles on her skin, '...it nearly broke me. Rick nearly postponed his meetings today and offered to call the boys out there to let them know I wasn't coming in today.'

'Rick?' Gates was surprised at the admission from Beckett, having watched for months as the duo had worked hard to keep their new relationship a secret from the office. For a brief second Kate frowned as the query pushed through the fog of emotion around her, but Gates saw the exact second that her brain caught up. The speed and level of whiteness Kate's face turned had Gates' free hand instinctively reaching to her mobile phone for Dr Parish's lesser used medical knowledge of the living as Kate began to hyperventilate.

'Relax Katherine,' Gates quickly spoke, her hand slipping to the woman's back and began rubbing across the too bony shoulders, 'You really think I didn't know about the two of you the minute you came into my office to get your badge back? I didn't get to where I am today by missing the obvious. Hell, I think I knew about his side of it after five minutes in this building, what with the fervour he was displaying in finding your shooter.'

'But...' Kate was reeling, her mind unable to get around the dream, let alone this new revelation about Gates knowing about her and Castle.

'I said relax,' Gates stepped across the room and filled a glass with water, handing it to Beckett when she sat back down, 'Drink some of this. I know that Mr Castle is a civilian, I will admit to taking a glance at both his contract here and the NYPD regulations, and I was surprisingly pleased to see there is no issue with the two of you as long as it doesn't affect your work. That being said, if I come across any evidence that the two of you are using the storage rooms in this building for... Personal activities, then Mr Castle will be banned from the precinct for a week. The work you two do is superb Katherine, I dare say you are part of one of the best partnerships I've come across in my years in the force and I wouldn't be a good captain if I split a pairing like yours apart.'

'I understand Sir,' Kate nodded, a tinge of embarrassment on her voice and cheeks,'I'll let Rick know the first chance I get.'

'I'm guessing that you had Taylor in here to do a sketch of your child from your dream?' Gates shifted the conversation back to it's original path, her finger pointing at the thin black folder beside Kate.

'I did,' Kate placed her glass on the table and opened the folder, delicately lifting the hand drawn image, 'this is her.'

Gates found her breath leaving her as she looked down at the expertly drawn image before her, 'Katherine, my God...'

'I know...' Kate gave a water filled chuckle at the sight of a speechless Gates, 'she was so beautiful. To wake up and realise she wasn't real...'

Tracing a finger down the side of the page, Victoria Gates melted as she took in the face looking back up at her.

'Beckett?' the silence was broken a few minutes later by Castle's voice as the man stood warily in the doorway, unsure as to what was taking place before him.

'Castle?' Gates smiled as she watched Beckett's face soften, the tense lines she would see in the office sliding off her face, replaced by a brilliant smile, 'I thought you had meetings all day?'

'I did until Gina found out that the British arm of Black Pawn were stuck across the pond with something they called 'NoroVirus' I did a google search and it's nasty,' Castle shivered dramatically, 'So I'm now required to go home and work on some more chapters, but I thought you might be free for lunch first?'

Castle winced, turning to what he internally called a level four glare from the woman, 'That is if Captain Gates allows me, I mean.'

'Permission denied Mr Castle,' Gates' face was firm, 'I will not allow you to waltz in here and drag my best detective out for an hour to indulge in filling your stomach.'

'Err...' Castle's eyes flicked between Gates and an equally confused Kate behind her.

'Now if you were standing here requesting to take your girlfriend home for the rest of the day,' Gates bit back a laugh as Castle nearly turned the same shade of white as Beckett had a few minutes before, 'then the answer is yes, permission granted.'

'Sir!' Beckett spoke up as her partner stood mutely by the doorway, 'I don't need to go home, I'm fine to continue filling in the paperwork from the last case.'

'Kate,' Gates turned, missing Castle mouth Beckett's name with a perplexed look on his face, 'Go home. Take today off and recharge yourself. It took me two days to get myself back together fully the first time it happened to me.'

'Mr Castle,' Gates turned back to the man after getting a confirming nod of the head from Beckett, 'I'm going to give you an order I expect you to follow to the letter.'

'Okay,' Gates registered the slight straightening of Castle's back as she spoke, 'take Kate back home and pamper her for the rest of the day. Within reason she is not to refuse anything,' Gates glanced back at Kate, her Captain face slipping on for a moment, 'but I expect to find her back at her desk tomorrow looking much more relaxed, do you understand?'

'I think I do,' Castle nodded, his arm snaking out for Kate to loop her own through as Gates turned to the door. Stopping in the now open doorway, Gates turned to the duo.

'Treat her right Mr Castle, she deserves it.'

'Always.'

SOME TIME LATER...

A box in her hand, Victoria Gates gently knocked on the closed door.

'Come in!' Castle's voice softly called back.

Opening in the door to the small room, Gates smiled at the sight of the mismatched family gathered inside.

'I take it I'm the last to say hello to the new arrival?' Gates beamed as the group parted and she got her first sight of the new mother sat in the bed.

'I'm afraid so Victoria,' Kate grinned as Gates gently hugged her, mindful of the precious bundle in the woman's arms.

'I hope she got her mother's looks?' Gates grinned as all but two of the rooms occupants laughed at her quip.

'She did,' Kate pulled back the swaddling cloth to fully reveal her new daughters face, 'Victoria, meet Elaine Johanna Victoria Castle.'

'My God Kate,' Gates looked down on the sleeping child, 'Wait, Victoria?' at Kate's nod, Gates' smile flickered as she blinked back tears at the honour.

'Dude!' Gates heard Esposito mutter to Ryan, 'Kate made Gates cry!'

'Another word out of you Detective Esposito and it's going to be you crying in a minute,' Gates turned a glare to the man holding a large stuffed rabbit wearing a top hat in his arms.

'It's her Victoria,' Kate whispered lovingly a moment later, her eyes only for her daughter.

'Her?' Gates frowned slightly as the child's eyes opened and her face turned to the unfamiliar voice, 'Kate... Is this?'

'Yeah,' Kate nodded, fresh tears of happiness threatening to overflow from her eyes, 'it's her...'

'My God,' Gates was speechless as she watched the bright blue eyes of Elaine lock onto hers, Kate's comment in the break room all those months ago ringing in her ears.

'I don't follow?' Alexis Castle frowned from her spot perched on the end of her step mother's bed.

Gates stepped back as Kate told her family of the conversation that had taken place back in the precinct months previous. The reveal from Castle of the drawing, now in a frame, had the room buzzing as each member came up with their own theories as to how Kate had seen her daughter's face before she'd even been conceived.

'Can I butt in for a moment Kate?' Gates requested when a lull in the conversations appeared, 'I just need to run the maths in my head a moment. Elaine was exactly nine months on the nose,am I right?'

'She was' Kate grinned as she watched her boss and now friend joining the dots in her head.

'Richard Castle!' Gates threw a now rare glare at the writer and new father, 'When I told you to take Kate home and pamper her, this wasn't what I was thinking of!'

'eww,' Alexis shivered slightly as the room dissolved into soft laughter.


End file.
